Kitchen: closed or open? What room layout?

... And I stand by it: With the open concept ... when cooking I want to be able to face the guests in the dining area as much as possible, or chat with those sitting opposite at the island.

....

Exactly for this reason the island or the counter was designed, if it is not only supposed to be a room divider.

And what do you do when the guests are there? Stir again briefly or longer, froth sauces, taste, do some decorating or plate the dishes. In all this, you don’t want to show your backside to the crowd... so stove on the island [emoji2]

The hood is used 90% of the time only as a lamp. We cook vegetarian and mostly low-fat, the odors are eliminated by the controlled residential ventilation in 30 minutes.

That means the slim pipe only houses the "lamp cable" and the hood operates with recirculation?

That's not how I was raised up.

My great-great-great-grandmother was raised without electric light...

The argument against change is not: We don't know it, we don't want it, but: It doesn't benefit me, I don't need it.

But it does benefit me. Even just because cooking is done together. Two, three, or four with guests.
It has less to do with splendor than with a workspace for several people that equally well functions as a social room.

Gaggenau needs less than a slide of good beer in the fridge for that.

: There are also people who don’t like cramped spaces. Ideally, I would have preferred a ground floor without (interior) walls, but somehow that’s awkward with the toilet. And you can’t put anything anywhere either. For me, the kitchen is allowed to look like cooking is going on, even when guests are there. Anyone who’s bothered by it has the approval to clean up. And an Ikea kitchen is somehow not something to show off either.

So the slim pipe only houses the "lamp cable" and the hood works with recirculation?

Exactly. It only gets greasy on the middle burner, the ventilation isn’t enough for the outer burners. I mostly need the hood for fried potatoes or when I’m frying capers.

Has less to do with splendor than with a workspace for several people that equally functions well as a social room.

True friends stick together - even in an everyday kitchen that doesn't have to be in cooking studio format. And they don't feel their shared cooking enjoyment diminished if the chopping isn't accompanied by "Rote Rosen," "Verbotene Liebe," or "GZSZ." Mind you: the OP asked for personal opinions, not for a final judgment with universal validity.

now says the Viking

stone me now

Boy, those times are over!

You didn’t grow up with the internet either, and the iPad is an exaggerated luxury and show-off for other boys here – for you it has meanwhile become an everyday utility.
Everyone has their own value – everyone as they please.

And an island isn’t necessarily more expensive than your L-shaped kitchen.

With or without little doors: in both kitchens you can sink money into the appliances. But that wasn’t the question. It’s about space – open or closed...